The Big Show!

[roxanne]

That's what he is known as, Michael Gardiner.
Rooey mentioned it in an interview yesterday.
I know there's another thread about him already but it's one dredged up from a year ago and the first two pages do nothing but bag him. I think he deserves better after yesterday's outstanding effort .
He adds so much to the confidence of our mid-fielders, in the forward line and in general play. Cometh the big game, cometh The Big Show.

[busso mick]

His form for us this year has had a huge influence on our midfield. I know a few Eagles fans over here in the west are mumbling uinder their breath about his form this year.

I've also heard that Scarlett is called "The Big Showbag".

[bigcarl]

Cometh the big game, cometh The Big Show.

it was a heroic effort by him. mark of the season if you put it in its context. plus four for the match. amazing.

[st.byron]

[quote="busso mick"

I've also heard that Scarlett is called "The Big Showbag". [/quote]

[stinger]

[quote="busso mick"

I've also heard that Scarlett is called "The Big Showbag".

[/quote]

yep...full of s***...


ps......i think i have a new favorite saints player.........

[saintsRrising]

Last time someone posted about Gardi's nickname it was to ridicule him for it.....

[PJ]

I've also heard that Scarlett is called "The Big Showbag".

Over priced and full of crap.

All show and no go.

Cheap entertainment.

Pretty much sums up Matty!!

[loris]

ps......i think i have a new favorite saints player.........

Me too stinger......... my sister & I after this match said I think we are now part of the MG Fan Club............. both of us were doubters about recruiting him to the Saints.............

Credit where credit is due....he sure is ticking all the right boxes. Well done Gardi........ pleasing that you have be able to turn your life around and regain respect and you're playing great footy again..... What a Saint he has become

[strauchanie]

I prefer calling him Edge as he is the ultimate opportunist

[clarky449]

I have always been a fan.

[howlinwolf]

I thought Mark Thompson's description of Matty was intersting this week.

Bomber said Matty is "blunt and direct".

That's Cat's speak for he's a loud mouth dumbarse that embarrasses this club.

[Saint Bev]

Great game by the big guy, he has definately won me around this season, last weekend was the icing on the cake. And that mark, what a cracker.

[3rd generation saint]

Just wonder if "The Big Show", will meet "The Big Show" as the WWE are in town this week.

[stinger]

a good read.....

"
Gardiner repaying St Kilda

Andrea Petrie | July 7, 2009

HE WAS the hero of Sunday's nail-biting win against Geelong, but Michael Gardiner has been proving all year that St Kilda made the right decision by granting him a second chance in football, captain Nick Riewoldt said yesterday.

Gardiner, who turned 30 on Sunday, took a crucial pack mark inside the last two minutes of the match and then kicked the winning goal for St Kilda.

After arriving at St Kilda from West Coast at the end of 2006, following a string of off-field dramas, injuries restricted Gardiner to just one VFL game for the 2007 season. He played only 18 games last season — nine in the AFL.

But Riewoldt had nothing but praise yesterday for Gardiner's on and off-field performance that, he said, far surpassed his heroics on Sunday.

"I think he's been good for us all year and he has gone through a pretty rough journey with his body and a few other things, but ever since he walked through the door at the club he has been really committed," Riewoldt said.

"People probably forget what a great player he was back in 2003 through to 2005 and he is starting to recapture some of that form now, which is terrific for us."

Ben Cousins, Gardiner's West Coast teammate for 10 seasons, said yesterday he was thrilled about his mate's round-14 game.

"How good was the big fella?" Cousins said on Nova radio.

Cousins spoke about the psychological impact the injuries had had on Gardiner during his career.

The 1996 No. 1 draft pick made the 2003 All-Australian team but was then cursed by chronic knee problems.

In his final three years at West Coast, which were littered with off-field controversies, Gardiner played just 18 matches as Dean Cox surpassed him as the leading ruckman in the AFL.

"He's had to do it the hard way and right through his career really the big obstacles have been his injuries," Cousins said.

"He's come over to Melbourne in the circumstances that he has and hasn't been able to get his body right, which, for a player, I don't think people quite realise how frustrating and hard that is. And that's probably why he took it out on some of those off-field indiscretions and why it's sort of come to the surface. But to see him get his body right and playing the footy he is in a great side it's good to see."

The Saints six-point win on Sunday secured their position at the top of the AFL ladder as the only undefeated team in the competition.

Riewoldt described the experience as invaluable because it gave them a chance to see if they had improved.

"It's always difficult to know until you come up against the benchmark teams," he said. "We've been able to meet every challenge before that so it was nice to come up against a really quality outfit and be competitive for the whole night, which we were," he said.

"The game could have gone either way in the end and the result, while it is always nice to get the points, I don't think it would have really affected the (lessons) that we took out of the game and the fact that we've still got a lot of improving to do in the last eight rounds of the season."

But Riewoldt said the focus now would be on how they could get even better. "We've got eight weeks now before the finals … and make sure that we keep improving."